Philip Rivers' next job will be head coach of a high school football team in Alabama

Philip Rivers is now set up to realize the second of his two childhood dreams.

The first was playing in the NFL, which he has done for 16 years with the Chargers and will do for at least one more season with the Colts in 2020. The second dream, he says, was to be a high school football coach "as (his) dad was." Which is why Rivers has agreed to become the football coach St. Michael Catholic High School in Fairhope, Ala. He will take over as soon as he retires from his NFL playing career, whenever that happens.

Rivers, 38, signed a one-year contract with Indianapolis in free agency after contemplating retirement. So the obvious question, now that Rivers has his next job lined up, is whether he will play beyond the 2020 season.

"I think it is a one year at a time deal,” Rivers said Friday when he was introduced as St. Michael Catholic's coach-in-waiting (via Al.com). “You get to 38 and play as long as I have … I’ve expressed publicly and the Colts have said too they hope it’s more than one year. But we take it one year at a time. I love playing. ...

"Certainly not coming off my best year, but in a year where I still know I can play at a high level. I did it in spurts. I just didn’t do it consistently enough. And I love it, and, shoot, it was one of those deals where we said, ‘Well, if there’s nothing else out there, then that’ll be our answer.’ We kind of said, ‘Whatever God wants, so if there’s nothing out there, I don’t want to just try to hang on to play. If nothing’s out there, shoot, we’ll start coaching.'"

Rivers played for his dad at Athens High School in Athens, Ala., before moving on to N.C. State and eventually the NFL. He said he wants to coach his own kids, too.

When Rivers was still a free agent in the spring upon the expiration of his Chargers contract, ESPN reportedly had interest in him as a potential NFL game analyst for the network's broadcast. He chose instead to join the Colts on a deal that will pay him $25 million for a year.

Fairhope, Ala., is a coastal city on Mobile Bay near the Florida border and not far from where Rivers grew up. Including the new job, this is why Rivers and his family moved there from San Diego a few months ago.